Causes of Stress among Students in Higher Educational Institutions in India

Pratibha  Goyal; Alok Kumar  Chakrawal; Richa  Banerjee

doi:10.36941/jicd-2021-0003

Authors

Pratibha Goyal School of Business Studies, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana 141 004, Punjab, India
Alok Kumar Chakrawal Department of Commerce and Business Administration, Saurashtra University, Rajkot 360005, Gujarat, India
Richa Banerjee Prestige Institute of Management Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh 474001, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36941/jicd-2021-0003

Keywords:

Stress, Students Stress, Higher Education, Academic Stress, Causes of Stress, Work Load, Peer Pressure

Abstract

A student has to deal with pressure from many directions. When the extent of the pressure exceeds the capacity of an individual, it becomes stressful. Students may experience stress due several factors like academics, workload, relationships with friends and peers, teachers, parents, job and career aspirations and financial problems. The present study was carried out to find the level of stress and the main factors responsible for it among students in higher educational institutions in India. From all over India, a sample of 616 students was taken. The respondents were the states of Assam, Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan. Primary data was collected with the help of a structured and pre-tested questionnaire. It included information about demographic profile of the respondents and had seven sub-scales pertaining to different stress factors. Results showed that moderate to low level stress was experienced by majority of the students. 'Job and career' and 'financial difficulties' were the main causes of stress. The next important factors were academics and work load. This paper further analyses the important reasons behind each stress factor.

Received: 18 November 2020 / Accepted: 26 February 2021 / Published: 17 May 2021